helium

[jlat]

Hello people: I'm just curious if anyone has tried it in your tires. Besides, with the weight-saving effect, would the tire run cooler?
IBBY

 

['87 Turbo "T"]

What do you have on your car?
Balloons? Trying to get it to float?

You mean nitrogen? If so, I consider it pointless myself. Air works just fine.

 

[jlat]

oops your right. Air works 4 me 2, but if you're a serious racer, you can save 5lbs per tire, and it might run cooler.

 

['87 Turbo "T"]

I sincerely doubt you'd save anywhere near 5lbs. a tire.

Air is roughly 78% nitrogen to begin with. So the difference in weight would be negligible. Were talking grams & single digit gram amounts at that.

So if you saved 10 grams that equates to around .022 of a pound. People use Nitrogen due to the molecules being larger.

Personally I find it to be a scam.

 

[jlat]

funny the stuff U see on the net, if it's true or not. I watched a guy weighing a tite wheel before and after and 5 lbs. was the difference. who knows
IBBY

 

[TexasT]

Nitrogen as above has larger molecules so the volume "leaking" out is thought to be less. also with one gas instead of the mix the pressure is thought to be more stable with the changes in temp. Kinda depends on your racing program. When I was in the gas business delivering cylinders and such I took more than a few to Texas Motor Speedway when they were testing and racing and picked up a lot of empty nitrogen cylinders when they were done.

 

[N2BUICK]

TexasT is correct, the nitrogen gas put in the tire is more stable, less pressure changes over a wider range of temperature changes.
You also get people asking why your valve stem caps is green!

 

[TurboTGuy]

funny the stuff U see on the net, if it's true or not. I watched a guy weighing a tite wheel before and after and 5 lbs. was the difference. who knows
IBBY

WELL, YOU SAW WINDSHIELD WIPER BRAKES TOO, SO..... LOL. JK

Nitrogen is BS. They try to say the molecules are larger than "OG Air", so it doesn't escape as fast..... As for racing application, who really knows...

They claim there is no water vapor in the compressed nitrogen either, that part is true. A lot of regular people have been sold a bill of goods on that stuff!

 

[Turbo6inKY]

Nitrogen's advantage has nothing to do with molecule size.

Commercial nitrogen is completely dry. No moisture. The difference in tire pressure that comes from heat is mostly due to expansion of the water in the air inside the tire. Get rid of the water and tire pressures become much more stable over a very wide temperature range. THAT is why race cars run nitrogen. They can set the pressures at optimum for the tire on cold tires and they don't have to change it during the race to compensate for heating, or suffer from sub-optima performance of the tire on the first few laps while the tire heats up.

Helium would offer the same advantage at ten times the cost.

So the juice really isn't worth the squeeze.

 

[dynoman]

Helium is used at GM for testing direct inject fuel rails because it is the smallest inert gas and if the rail doesn't leak with helium , it won't leak with fuel . The rail is put in a chamber , pumped full of helium and then the chamber is "sniffed" with a very sensitive helium detector . No helium detected means good part and the helium is recycled . I worked on this equipment at GM and my wife repaired the helium detectors in the electronics lab .
So helium in tires would be expensive and with the slightest leak and you would have a flat tire !!

 

[jlat]

Hello people: I looked it up again, and it was helium. Find the guy talking about saving weight by using helium. Find helium in tires. May the gas be with you.
IBBY

 

[Chuck Leeper]

So helium in tires would be expensive and with the slightest leak and you would have a flat tire !!

I guess the folks on the Hindenburg found that to be true....

 

[wdxwrx]

The Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen, not helium.

 

[TurboTGuy]

The Hindenburg was filled with hydrogen, not helium.

Oh, the humanity!